Jeb Bush swore by his own conservative credentials and said that he’s a “practicing” conservative who would put his record “up against anybody that’s in Congress right now” in a question-and-answer session in New York City Monday night.

Bush also told the crowd at the 92nd St. Y that he hasn’t yet had a family conversation about whether he’ll run for president in 2016. “I have not gotten advice and I have not sought it yet. There’s a time to make a decision and you shouldn’t make it too early. This is not the time for me. This is the time for me to show a little self-restraint.”

And he described House Speaker John Boehner as “totally committed” to immigration reform but he said there’s “a lot of disarray right now” within the Republican caucus. He predicted a single “comprehensive” bill will pass “in the spring,” a “stripped-down version” of the Senate bill.

During the wide-ranging discussion — Bush was in New York promoting a new book — the former Florida governor took issue when his interviewer, Thane Rosenbaum, described him as a “moderate.”

“You just attacked me by calling me a moderate,” Bush said with mock outrage, before turning more serious. “I am temperate in my tone I hope. I don’t change my message to any group. I was brought up to be temperate … It’s OK to have a tone that’s not nasty or mean-spirited.”

At another point he added, “Look, I’m a conservative and I’m a practicing one, not a talk-about-it one … I would put my record up against anybody that’s in Congress right now.”

Bush, who has given little indication that he’s preparing to jump into the 2016 race but who remains the wished-for hope of many of his presidential brother’s former donors, highlighted his performance as Florida’s governor, including his approach to education and to affirmative action as examples of his conservative perspective.

He spoke briefly about Obamacare, and predicted that if it remains a troubled rollout over an extended period of time that the 2016 presidential election could turn into a reaction to it.

“You have the counter action to whoever is the current occupant” in office, he said of elections.

He cautioned that his party needed to abandon a strategy of appealing to “older white guys” and that it “doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to understand that demography matters in politics.

“We’ve not made an effective case” in the last two elections to voters, he said, calling for a more “positive” and forward-looking vision. “A lot of voters have just turned off the Republican message.”

Republicans can’t win new voters “by narrowing your party and purifying your party and all this nonsense,” he said.

And he blasted some of the rhetoric from congressional Republicans against immigration, such as Iowa Rep. Steve King as “shameful and so insulting … [it’s] totally out of the mainstream of conservative thought.”

But it’s those remarks, he said, that “gets attention.”

He also described his dad, who has had health troubles in the past year, as “in great spirits. He’s in a good place.” He “can’t walk,” he added, but said, “He’s 89, though, so he’s lived a pretty full life.”

As for his brother, he said that he expects “history will be kind to my brother.”

Asked about him saying his brother’s tenure was underappreciated, Bush, in a reference to his brother’s malapropisms, said, “I probably said misunderappreciated.”